Sinn Féin - On Your Side

Mac Lochlainn outlines Sinn Féin vision for Government and Irish unity at MacGill Summer School

Sinn Féin Spokesperson for Justice and Equality, Pádraig Mac
Lochlainn TD, has outlined Sinn Féin’s vision for Government in a debate with
Tánaiste Joan Burton and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin at the MacGill
Summer School in Glenties, Co. Donegal.

Speaking during his presentation on the theme “A
Visionary National Development Plan – The Most Fitting Monument To 1916?”; Mac Lochlainn said that a Sinn Féin led
Government is needed to deliver new economic thinking, new ideas and an honest
and coherent political approach.

Teachta Mac Lochlainn said:

“Citizens deserve a Government with courage to act in the interests of
citizens first and not EU elites, who will refuse to limit their policies to a
shortlist of window dressing false promises which negatively impact and assault
working people and communities through relentless austerity policies of stealth
taxes and cuts to public services which are destroying the social fabric of
Irish society – both rural and urban.

“Ultimately, the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Governments recklessness led to
a fundamental breakdown of trust in Irish politics and the political
system. The National Development Plan
thought-up, in the Government of which Micheál Martin was a part, was
ultimately short-sighted in its vision. It lacked real vision in terms of rural
development, cross-border cooperation and development, and in helping to
deliver for the needs of citizens across the island. This short-sightedness has
only been compounded by Fine Gael/Labour. In 2011, the Irish people believed
they were voting for something different, but got ‘more of the same’.

“We need a Government who actually stand for something - and who will
stand up for Ireland putting the interests of the citizens first rather than
bankers and golden-elites. What the Irish people deserve is a Government who
are anchored by core values which chime with the reality of people in the real
world. We need a Government that stands for peace, social equality, economic
prosperity and Irish unity. These are Sinn Féin’s core values to which we are
deeply committed.”

Mac Lochlainn also addressed the need for the Irish Government to work
towards a united Ireland.

“As an Irish republican and a Sinn Féin TD, I consider it to be my task
and responsibility to actively work with others to unite communities and build
a modern nation and persuade our unionist neighbours and every other citizen of
the merits of a United Ireland and achieve the right of self-determination on
the basis of consent. This is not merely for the sake of it, but because it is
how we will strengthen our democratic future as a society.

“We want a country which embraces those of a unionist persuasion and to be
defined by new friendships, human dignity and a common purpose and for this to
be both the starting point, and the cornerstone of any New Ireland and – of a
real Republic where citizens’ democratic and constitutional rights and
safeguards are in fact realised – as envisaged in the Proclamation of 1916. I
believe it is the duty of the Irish Government to promote all-Ireland policies
and strategies, benefiting all parts of the island – not only this State.

“An
Irish Government who will prepare politically, economically, socially and
culturally for Irish unification, identifying the necessary steps and measures,
including a Green Paper, which can assist a successful transition to
re-unification. These are the exact things that Sinn Féin would do in Government
to achieve real change and a new political and economic dispensation.”